How did the Quakers develop The natural environment?
“Historians of Quakerism have always stressed the kinship between the Quaker ethic and the spirit of science. When in his journal George Fox described his first revelation of the Inner Light he ended with the words ‘This I know experimentally.’ The Quaker appeal to direct experience rather than to religious authority or tradition, or even the words of the Bible, was closely akin to the spirit of empirical science, or the New Philosophy, which became so popular in England at the time Fox had his vision on Pendle Hill. The Spirit of science was also in a way much in accord with Quaker anti-intellectualism: the things, as Fox and Penn stressed (and later Emerson noted about Quakerism), is far more important than the word. ‘Languages are not to be despised or neglected,’ wrote William Penn, ‘but things are still to be preferred.’ ”
- Page 169, Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia by E. Digby Baltzell
A history of the important developments of American environmental thought and urban landscape during the 19th century inevitably takes many roots from the previous century, a time when the study and systematic classification of plant life was starting to take hold of Europe at an unprecedented rate through the works of Linnaeus. For the Quakers in Philadelphia, a religious group that heavily spurned the aesthetic production of literary and art forms, botany and natural were the only domains of intellectual life which allowed a direct experience with God. From the very beginning, botany had been an integral part of Philadelphia; George Fox had initially “brought the idea of a botanic garden to America” by bequeathing land in 1690 “for a Garden to plant with Physical Plants, for Lads and Lasses to know simples, and to learn to make Oils and Ointments”[1]. Of course, Penn’s original plan for Philadelphia as a “Greene Countrie Towne” has also been well documented, where he planned to allot city blocks for green spaces for public enjoyment and to contain the risk of fire. Although it may seem surprising that Philadelphia would become the leading center for botanical sciences in the late 18th century English-speaking world given the Quakers’ aversion to other forms of aesthetic and intellectual life, Baltzell notes that the “Quaker antipathy to higher education” did not prevent them from joining the scientific establishment in England[2]. Between 1663 and 1915, over 58 Quaker Friends became members of the Royal Society[3] (a very large proportion compared to any other denomination), the elite scientific establishment based in London and created by Newton, Hooke, Boyle and co. It was in this sphere which Peter Collison, the Quaker botanist and merchant who was responsible for the import of thousands of species of North American shrubbery and trees to England, lived and worked.
Scientific Gardens in Philadelphia
The early study of plant life in the 18th century was one which was by no means limited to scientific motives. The creation of scientific gardens and horticultural centers by botanists and their patrons beginning in the 1720’s and 30’s were driven primarily by economic factors to facilitate the trade of seeds back to England and the Old World. Additionally, the scientific exploration of North America before the Revolution was strongly driven by empire-building motives; Collinson writes to Bartram at the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War “what an immense country is now added to our long, narrow strip of Colonies… See what a complete empire we have now got within ourselves”[4]. However, these horticultural centers also came to hold a variety of social and aesthetic functions which heavily influenced the construction of “a national identity based on the richness of American nature” during the post-Revolutionary War era[5].
The early scientific gardens were built on estates scattered throughout Philadelphia as spaces emerging from the “domestic activities of Philadelphia’s cultivated society”[6]. Many of the owners of botanical gardens who themselves were botanists and influential in establishing Philadelphia’s first scientific societies were members of Quaker aristocratic society; among these were Charles Wilson Peale, James Stenton and Richard Peters. In Germantown, both Peale’s Belfield estate and Stenton’s home are still standing today with part of their original gardens still intact from the early 18th century. Peale used his garden as an estate, and it became one of the first gardens in the world where the “botanical taxonomy” invented by Linnaeus was “linked to the physical arrangements of plants”[7]. In many cases, the study of plant life became inseparable from the social settings that emphasized “the conversational and demonstrative character of science”[8]. Private gardens became some of the most frequented locations by distinguished visitors, and were also often the subject of study for continental scientists (especially Bartram’s gardens) including many of Linnaeus’ students. In Philadelphia, the social exchange which often characterized botanical study took the form of active gift-giving; a whole system of exchanging seeds took place between botanical gardens[9]. While estate owners were at times coy to giving away new or rare species, especially those that ran their gardens as commercial enterprises in competition with one another, the transfer of seeds between Lemon Hill, the Woodlands, Belfield, and other estates locally and nationally (including Monticello and Mount Vernon) helped to develop an entire Quaker culture centered around gardening.
- Page 169, Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia by E. Digby Baltzell
A history of the important developments of American environmental thought and urban landscape during the 19th century inevitably takes many roots from the previous century, a time when the study and systematic classification of plant life was starting to take hold of Europe at an unprecedented rate through the works of Linnaeus. For the Quakers in Philadelphia, a religious group that heavily spurned the aesthetic production of literary and art forms, botany and natural were the only domains of intellectual life which allowed a direct experience with God. From the very beginning, botany had been an integral part of Philadelphia; George Fox had initially “brought the idea of a botanic garden to America” by bequeathing land in 1690 “for a Garden to plant with Physical Plants, for Lads and Lasses to know simples, and to learn to make Oils and Ointments”[1]. Of course, Penn’s original plan for Philadelphia as a “Greene Countrie Towne” has also been well documented, where he planned to allot city blocks for green spaces for public enjoyment and to contain the risk of fire. Although it may seem surprising that Philadelphia would become the leading center for botanical sciences in the late 18th century English-speaking world given the Quakers’ aversion to other forms of aesthetic and intellectual life, Baltzell notes that the “Quaker antipathy to higher education” did not prevent them from joining the scientific establishment in England[2]. Between 1663 and 1915, over 58 Quaker Friends became members of the Royal Society[3] (a very large proportion compared to any other denomination), the elite scientific establishment based in London and created by Newton, Hooke, Boyle and co. It was in this sphere which Peter Collison, the Quaker botanist and merchant who was responsible for the import of thousands of species of North American shrubbery and trees to England, lived and worked.
Scientific Gardens in Philadelphia
The early study of plant life in the 18th century was one which was by no means limited to scientific motives. The creation of scientific gardens and horticultural centers by botanists and their patrons beginning in the 1720’s and 30’s were driven primarily by economic factors to facilitate the trade of seeds back to England and the Old World. Additionally, the scientific exploration of North America before the Revolution was strongly driven by empire-building motives; Collinson writes to Bartram at the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War “what an immense country is now added to our long, narrow strip of Colonies… See what a complete empire we have now got within ourselves”[4]. However, these horticultural centers also came to hold a variety of social and aesthetic functions which heavily influenced the construction of “a national identity based on the richness of American nature” during the post-Revolutionary War era[5].
The early scientific gardens were built on estates scattered throughout Philadelphia as spaces emerging from the “domestic activities of Philadelphia’s cultivated society”[6]. Many of the owners of botanical gardens who themselves were botanists and influential in establishing Philadelphia’s first scientific societies were members of Quaker aristocratic society; among these were Charles Wilson Peale, James Stenton and Richard Peters. In Germantown, both Peale’s Belfield estate and Stenton’s home are still standing today with part of their original gardens still intact from the early 18th century. Peale used his garden as an estate, and it became one of the first gardens in the world where the “botanical taxonomy” invented by Linnaeus was “linked to the physical arrangements of plants”[7]. In many cases, the study of plant life became inseparable from the social settings that emphasized “the conversational and demonstrative character of science”[8]. Private gardens became some of the most frequented locations by distinguished visitors, and were also often the subject of study for continental scientists (especially Bartram’s gardens) including many of Linnaeus’ students. In Philadelphia, the social exchange which often characterized botanical study took the form of active gift-giving; a whole system of exchanging seeds took place between botanical gardens[9]. While estate owners were at times coy to giving away new or rare species, especially those that ran their gardens as commercial enterprises in competition with one another, the transfer of seeds between Lemon Hill, the Woodlands, Belfield, and other estates locally and nationally (including Monticello and Mount Vernon) helped to develop an entire Quaker culture centered around gardening.
While those who owned botanical gardens came from the upper echelon of Philadelphia society, these gardens were in many cases free and open to the public. From the late 18th and early 19th century, estate gardens were already starting to be seen as useful egalitarian and pedagogical tools by Quaker elites to help acculturate members of the lower classes. As Robert Haines, an influential Germantown garden-keeper noted, “oral communication encourages the habit of attention and observation”[10]. In many senses, these estates became ideological forerunners to the democratizing and moralizing effects which Olmsted later attributed to public parks. Lemon Hill, the estate owned by Robert Morris which was later the first private addition to the Fairmount Park system, was one of the most frequently visited botanic gardens and kept a greenhouse open for continued public display. Foreign visitors were often quite surprised by the openness of estate gardens; the Italian artist Gandolfi was surprised when “two well-informed gardeners, who ordinarily explained the beautiful and extensive vegetable kingdom to ignorant and dull people, were taken aback when they realized that I knew the plants by their scientific names”[11].
Bartram’s Garden and the 18th century Atlantic Seed Trade
Of 18th century Philadelphia botanists, John Bartram was the important for both furthering botany as an empirical science and stimulating the market for seed exports to Great Britain. Of him, Linnaeus (who often sent students and Swedish ambassadors to Bartram’s garden) remarked that Bartram was the greatest natural botanist in the world. Bartram himself was not a member of the Quaker elite and held no formal intellectual training; his only formal education came when he hired a Latin tutor to help him read the botanical and scientific texts published in Latin by Linnaeus and members of the Royal Society[12]. However, Bartram made up for his lack of formal education through a keen observation of the natural world. In 1728 he purchased a farm in Kingsessing on the banks of Schulkyill, then a rural area[13]; the farmhouse is still preserved today. Soon he had managed to cultivate a garden filled with native and exotic plants (from Chesapeake Bay and later from Europe) and was shortly contacted by Joseph Breintnall, a librarian and poet who was a keen member of the Philadelphia intellectual circle (which included Franklin, Logan, Cadwalader, and others)[14]. Breintnall introduced Bartram to Peter Collinson, an influential Quaker merchant based in London who was also a member of the Royal Society. Among Bartram’s first gifts to Collinson was a box of seeds including chestnuts, Spanish nuts, peach stones, and Chinese asters[15]. What continued was a relationship for decades driven primarily by economic interests[16].
From the 1736 until 1767, Bartram would continue to send seeds annually to the London home of Collinson in exchange for scientific instruments and banknotes; these annual boxes would each contain roughly 105 seeds of trees and shrubs, mostly recently discovered and entirely new to Europe[17]. However, while Collinson’s business with Bartram produced immense profits as he procured numerous customers (124 to be exact) in Britain, Germany, and France, Bartram sometimes felt limited by the relationship[18]. Collinson’s insistence on collecting trees and shrubberies (favored by English aristocrats) caused him to chastise Bartram for travelling too far his field work for Bartram’s travels furnished “little but Herbaceous seeds”[19].
While business with Collinson directed much of Bartram’s research and at times placed limits on scientific inquiry, the introduction of American plant life into Europe had a lasting impact on the English garden. Just a few of the species that remain staples in England today include the bee balm, phlox, goldenrods, tall larkspur, and several species of lilies[20]. Bartram’s influence on diversifying the flora of the Georgian garden was even recognized by the king, who appointed Bartram as his royal botanist and shipped him an annual allowance of 50 pounds[21]. Bartram’s and Collinson’s species were soon found in numerous botanical settings around England, including the Chelsea Physic gardens and the Duke of Richmond’s estate[22]. Additionally, the Kew Gardens in southwest London (which contained plants from all corners of the empire) was well populated by American seeds which Bartram had collected across the eastern seaboard and sent directly to the King for nearly two decades[23]. The Kew Gardens today remains an international center for botanical research, in no small part to Bartram.
[1] Pg 50 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[2] Pg 169 Baltzell, E. Digby in Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia
[3] Pg 169 Baltzell, E. Digby in Puritan Boston & Quaker
[4] P. 245 Collinson, Peter “Selected Letters of Peter Collinson” in Forget Not Mee and My Garden
[5] Pg 43 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[6] Pg 38 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[7] Pg 38 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[8] Pg 42 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[9] Pg 48 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[10] Pg 52 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[11] Pg 50 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[12] “The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century”
http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/library/library-exhibitions/botany-of-empire/botanical-personalities/memorials-of-john-bartram-and-humphry-marshall
[13] “The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century”
http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/library/library-exhibitions/botany-of-empire/botanical-personalities/memorials-of-john-bartram-and-humphry-marshall
[14] Pg 104 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[15] Pg 104 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[16] Pg 63 “America’s Ancient Garden” by Joel T. Fry in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[17] Pg 66 “America’s Ancient Garden” by Joel T. Fry in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[18] Pg 108 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[19] Pg 65 “America’s Ancient Garden” by Joel T. Fry in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[20] Pg 114 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[21] Pg 115 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[22] Pg 103 “This Other Eden” by Mark Laird in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[23] Pg 120 “This Other Eden” by Mark Laird in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[2] Pg 169 Baltzell, E. Digby in Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia
[3] Pg 169 Baltzell, E. Digby in Puritan Boston & Quaker
[4] P. 245 Collinson, Peter “Selected Letters of Peter Collinson” in Forget Not Mee and My Garden
[5] Pg 43 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[6] Pg 38 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[7] Pg 38 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[8] Pg 42 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[9] Pg 48 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[10] Pg 52 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[11] Pg 50 O’Malley, Therese “Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces” in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[12] “The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century”
http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/library/library-exhibitions/botany-of-empire/botanical-personalities/memorials-of-john-bartram-and-humphry-marshall
[13] “The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century”
http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/library/library-exhibitions/botany-of-empire/botanical-personalities/memorials-of-john-bartram-and-humphry-marshall
[14] Pg 104 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[15] Pg 104 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[16] Pg 63 “America’s Ancient Garden” by Joel T. Fry in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[17] Pg 66 “America’s Ancient Garden” by Joel T. Fry in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[18] Pg 108 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[19] Pg 65 “America’s Ancient Garden” by Joel T. Fry in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[20] Pg 114 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[21] Pg 115 “Peter Collinson and John Bartram” in Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Exchange by Jean O’Neill
[22] Pg 103 “This Other Eden” by Mark Laird in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840
[23] Pg 120 “This Other Eden” by Mark Laird in Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia 1740-1840